1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sheet conveying apparatus which includes a displaceable sheet conveying guide in a sheet conveying path provided between a cassette and a sheet-feeding roller.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, a sheet conveying path between a cassette and a sheet-feeding roller has, in general, been used as a conveying path for conveying a sheet which has been manually fed. Accordingly, the sheet conveying path is provided between the cassette and the sheet-feeding roller only when a sheet is manually fed, enabling a manual feeding operation of paper, and is retracted during a usual sheet feeding operation from the cassette so as not to obstruct the sheet feeding operation from the cassette.
In some printers, a sheet can be conveyed in a forward or a reverse direction. In such a case, the above-described sheet conveying path is utilized as a space for accommodating a sheet. That is, the sheet-feeding roller is retracted from the sheet conveying path by swinging in order to secure the sheet conveying path, and a cover on the upper surface of the cassette is utilized as a sheet guide.
In the above-described first approach, however, it is necessary to perform the difficult operation of providing the sheet conveying path at a predetermined position every time a manual feeding operation of a sheet is performed, and retracting the sheet conveying path when the path is not used. Hence, an apparatus must provide a space for accommodating the sheet conveying path, causing an unnecessary increase of the size of the apparatus. In the above-described case of printers, a mechanism to retract the sheet-feeding roller is required in order to secure the sheet conveying path. Moreover, the sheet conveying path is not provided when the cassette is detached, and therefore sheets cannot be accommodatad at a predetermined position.